Whitner is ladsbroker’s best friend: The $72 million tackle?

When Donte Whitner tackled Jesse Holley at the 1-yard line to save a game-ending touchdown, it also apparently saved bookies/casinos/your uncle from paying out $72 million. I heard this story on ESPN Radio while driving to the 49ers facility Monday morning and Googled it. Here is what I found on a site called pregame.com:

“An estimated $100 million was bet worldwide on the Cowboys/49ers game, with an estimated 86% of that action on Dallas. In OT, a Cowboys receiver was caught from behind and tackled on the one-yard line – leading to a game winning field goal. If a TD had been scored, the Cowboys as a 3-point favorite would have cashed for bettors. Instead, all monies were returned on a tie (called a “push). So, an ultimately meaningless shoe-string tackle resulted in bettors winning $0 instead of an estimated $72 million!”

Dan Bailey’s 19-yard field goal on the ensuing play gave the Cowboys (as the sportsbooks predicted) a three-point win, 27-24 over the 49ers.

Expecting the Cowboys to run on the first play of overtime, Whitner bit on Tony Romo’s play-action fake. Holley raced past not only Whitner but also cornerback Carlos Rogers, who lined up 5 yards off the line of scrimmage.

Obviously, Whitner didn’t give chase to help out the sportsbooks. “I wanted to strip the football from him,” Whitner said.

In football jargon, here is how Whitner saw that game-deciding play evolve: “We had quarters to that side, they ran a play-action fake and ran a deep post. He was wide open. I tried to give chase and catch him. I ended up catching him on the 1-yard line.”

Holley won Michael Irvin’s reality television show “4th and Long” to make it onto the Cowboys practice squad in 2009. After Sunday’s heroics, Holley yelled “Thank you boss” to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who was holding court in the locker room with reporters.

“Trust me, I have never proclaimed to be a speedster,” Holley said. “God blessed me with a lot of things, but 4.3 speed definitely wasn’t one of them.”

And $72 million definitely is more than Whitner is making from the 49ers, who signed him Aug. 6 to a reported three-year, $11.75 million contract with $4 million guaranteed.